


Stay? (I'll be right here)

by Glowsquid



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anger, Angst, Crying, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron) Has Abandonment Issues, Keith Genuary, Keith crying? In one of my fics? It's more likely than you'd think!, Shiro's in the black lion doing the you know I had to do it to 'em pose, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-16 14:45:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17551685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glowsquid/pseuds/Glowsquid
Summary: Ever since his father died, Keith's made a habit of never letting anyone become close to him. What's the use? They leave, or they die, or they stab you in the back. It's inevitable. The only person he allowed himself to love was Shiro.Now even he's gone. Again.No matter how hard he tries, the walls he's built around himself come crashing down.





	Stay? (I'll be right here)

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I know. This plot line has probably been written a dozen times. Should I care? Probably. Do I care? Nah.

_Clang._

Don’t think about it

_Wham._

Don’t you dare think about it

_Smash._

“Keith!”

Keith ignored the voice and continued swinging, bringing his sword down on the prone training bot in front of him over and over again. His muscles were aching, but he didn’t care. He wanted to break something, he needed that catharsis. Anger was building and building and building inside of him and he didn’t have anything to do with it but to fight, to push, to beat this piece-of-shit robot until it broke. He wasn’t going to stop until the training gladiator was in pieces, until the metal chassis splintered and shattered into shards of chrome plating and sparking circuitry. Someone had to pay for what happened to- 

“Keith!”

Dammit! Why couldn’t Lance just leave him alone? Letting out a growl of frustration, he raised his arms over his head to strike the bot again. 

But a hand grabbed his wrist and pulled back, effectively stopping the arm’s descent. Keith whirled around. Lance had no business even being here, much less grabbing him like his. Lance had no idea what he was going through, no idea-

One look at Lance stopped that train of thought. 

Lance looked so tired. His eyes were dull, and his lips were set in a hard, tense line. 

Something about him standing there looking so defeated made the fight drain out of Keith like water squeezed from a sponge. 

His arm sagged in Lance's grip. Lance must have felt this, because he let go of Keith's wrist and simply let it flop back to his side. He turned his sword back into his Marmora dagger and sheathed it neatly. 

As if he was trying to read Keith's mind, Lance stared hard into his eyes. Just when the eye contact became unbearable, Lance's eyes moved to examine the robot on the floor, metal body dented and smoking suspiciously out the side of his head. 

“I think you got him.”

The comment should have been a snarky, teasing thing, accompanied by a smirk and Lance's trademark finger guns. 

But the words were empty. Hollow. There was no joy in them, not even an attempt to find some levity in the situation. 

“I guess so.”

Lance tucked his hands into his jacket pockets as his eyes found Keith's once more.

“Listen, this is an intervention.”

Keith blinked. “What?” 

“This isn't healthy. You need to work this out of your system by training, I know. But you've been in here for hours! Don't think we didn't notice. Whaling on inanimate objects isn't going to bring Shiro back.” 

Keith flinched at the words, and he heard Lance sigh gently. 

“You need rest. When was the last time you slept?” 

He shrugged noncommittally in response.

“Yeah, I thought so.”

Keith's eyes narrowed, and irritation sparked in his stomach. What the hell was he trying to do, coming in and judging Keith's actions like he was so much better. Lance had no idea, no clue what he was going through right now. 

“I don’t need this right now, Lance,” he growled, turning his back on the other boy and crouching down by the now motionless training bot. He picked it up by the forearm and began the process of dragging it back towards the charging docks. It would probably need serious repair, but Keith didn't know what to do about that. It wasn’t important at the moment. He would deal with it later. 

He didn’t miss Lance's soft footsteps as he followed a few paces behind.

“Yes, you do,” Lance replied, raising his voice to be heard over the new distance between them. “You can't let yourself fall apart just because Shiro's not here. Let us help you, Keith!” 

He didn't bother to respond. Maybe if he kept quiet, Lance would stop hanging around. All Keith wanted was to be alone right now, not to have his problems doggedly pursue him in the form of a skinny Blue Paladin who wouldn't shut up. 

“If Shiro were here, you know he'd tell you the same thing.”

It was the wrong thing to say.

Slamming the bot on it's charging port, he whirled around, closing the distance between him and Lance with a few efficient strides. The anger was back, worrying his insides in a frantic, raging mess that muted every response except for _fight back, fight back, fight back._

And all that fight was directed at the boy in front of him.

“Don't you fucking dare use him against me like that. You never knew him like I did, you have no idea what he's like!” 

Lance lifted his hands in a defensive gesture. 

“Keith, I'm sorry, I know how you feel, I just-” 

“Bullshit! That's bullshit!” He was screaming now, but he didn't care. “You have no idea what this feels like! You don't get it, Lance. I had no one! I don't have parents, any family, no one at the Garrison would touch me with a ten foot pole, CPS couldn't pay anyone enough to care about me. Until I met Shiro no one in the _world_ gave a shit about me, so don't fucking pretend you know how I'm feeling. Don't fucking pretend you know what it feels like when the one person on the world who actually cares about you vanishes from your life _again_ because you just. don't. get it.”

And fuck, his voice started doing that dangerous thing where it trembles and breaks and he knew he was in trouble because that's a sure sign he's about to cry. And he didn’t want to cry, he _couldn't_. Not when the pain was still too raw. Not in front of Lance. 

He tried to take a deep breath to calm himself down and gain some semblance of control. It didn't help. It came in as a shaky gasp that only made him feel more desperate. Fuck, he couldn't do this.

“Lance, you always try to… _fix_ everything, but you can't. You can't change anything! Shiro's still missing, and we have no clue where to even start looking for him...and I don't know what to _do_.” 

Shit, that was a sob. Stop, Keith needed to stop before he lost even more control. 

_I can't, I can't, I can't._

“Stop trying to make everything okay, Lance! You can't-” he had to pause to wipe the tears out of his eyes before they fell. “You can’t make me be fine. I'm not okay. I can’t be okay, I _can’t_.”

That's when he began crying in earnest. 

_Get it together, get it together, get it together._

But it was too late. There were soft sobs gusting out of his chest, desperate little noises filing the vast space. He hated crying, he hated feeling scared, and he hated not knowing what to do. Because Shiro could always tell him what to do and _he didn't know what to do without Shiro._

Completely breaking down now, he pressed both hands to his mouth to try to muffle his cries and ducked his head, shaking his bangs over his eyes. He wanted to run and hide and calm the fuck down in private but something kept him rooted to the ground, unable to move away, leaving him weeping and trembling on the training room floor. In front of Lance McClain of all people.

He must look so pathetic right now. 

Lance seemed to have run out of things to say.

_Finally,_ Keith thought bitterly. 

“I’m sorry, Keith.” 

_Jinxed it._

“I shouldn’t have implied that I know what you’re going through cause you’re right. I don’t. You’re hurting more than any of us. We all love Shiro, but… well, you were friends with him long before any of us knew him.” 

Lance’s voice was soft and low, probably deliberately to calm Keith down. He kind of hated the fact that it was working. 

“I know I’m not your favorite person in the world, and I know you’re really mad at me and I kinda deserve it. But… I don’t think anyone should be alone when they’re hurting like this, so I’ll keep you company. If you’re okay with that.”

Keith moved his hands from his lips to wipe at his eyes and tried to know what he wanted. Lance was right: if given the choice, he would rather cry like a baby in peace and quiet. But somehow the thought of Lance leaving - of being left alone again - felt even worse. So he nodded and croaked out, “Stay?”

“Okay. I’ll be right here.”

There was a bit of an awkward silence as both boys stood where they were, Keith wondering what the hell he would do now. Fortunately, Lance fixed that. 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

No, he really didn’t. He still didn’t _know_ Lance, not really. Not well enough to trust him with something like this. He didn’t have the strength to open himself up like Lance wanted him to. Not yet. 

_He’s here now,_ said the voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Shiro, _he’s trying to help you. Let him._

Damm. That really was something Shiro would say. 

Shiro would also tell him that he needed to rest. To stop moving and let himself grieve for a goddamn second. 

Lance had been right. 

Keith forced himself to look Lance in the eye again. His face was definitely red and blotchy and gross, covered in tear stains and snot, and his breath was catching in uncontrollable hiccups, but he forced himself to look at Lance. 

Shiro was the only other living person in the world who had seen him like this. 

Now Keith didn’t even know if he was living. 

_Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck._

“Actually,” he winced as his voice cracked again, “can I have a hug?”

Lance smiled gently. 

“I thought you’d never ask.” 

Keith didn’t even have to move, because Lance came to him. He wrapped two long arms around Keith’s shoulders and rested his cheek against his hair and held him close. 

Keith wasn’t going to pretend it didn’t feel awkward at first. He had never been a huge fan of being touched in any way that could be considered intimate, but it felt better when he turned his head so his nose wasn’t squashed and looped his arms around Lance’s waist. 

That only made Lance hold him tighter. He was pulled in until their bodies were flush against each other. 

Neither of them said a word for a long time, they didn’t have to. Keith cried, Lance held him, and that seemed to be all the cruel universe was willing to offer him in that moment. 

But it was enough. For now, he could rest.

**Author's Note:**

> why do i post this garbage?


End file.
